NSA revelations should surprise no one

June 15, 2013

So the American people are outraged and expressing paranoia about the government spying on them. To state the obvious, anyone who sends an email, surfs the Web, uses a credit card or texts should not assume these activities are confidential. All electronic information is recorded by the corporations who sell these services. You can't buy a set of headphones at Radio Shack without being quizzed about your ZIP code. Protective of your privacy? You should definitely stay off Facebook.

After 9/11, the entire country demanded the government save it from the terrorists, and Congress passed the 2001 Patriot Act, which weakened restrictions on the gathering of intelligence within the U.S., expanded the authority to regulate financial transactions and broadened the discretion to detain and deport immigrants suspected of terrorism-related acts. Few Americans had a problem with this at the time. The recent revelation about the National Security Agency tracking phone calls should have shocked exactly no one.

After the Boston bombers carjacked a guy, the police tracked them down by tracing the signal on the driver's cell phone. You're free to feel outraged about the NSA revelations, but to express surprise means you haven't kept up on current events.